1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to personal security systems, and, more particularly, to wearable personal security systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known for personal panic alarm devices to be worn on a person's body, such as on a necklace or stored in a pants pocket. In the event that the person is attacked, believes he will be attacked, or becomes disabled, the person may press a button on the device in order to cause a radio frequency signal to be sent to a monitoring station so that assistance may be summoned. However, in the case of protection against a bodily attack, it is often difficult for an individual to predict a debilitating attack and then initiate a call for assistance. Pressing the button of the device after the attack has begun may be even more difficult.
As described above, present personal alarm devices depend upon the ability of the wearer to press the panic button at an appropriate time, as no current system is adequately configured to provide complete automatic decision making abilities based on detected attack forces. Further, current devices are not able to automatically place duress calls to a third party in the event of an attack. Another particular problem with prior art devices is that they are not able to measure pulling or grabbing forces and are not able to use such measured forces as a criteria for duress notification.
What is neither disclosed nor suggested by the art is an apparatus that integrates force measurement devices within or on a piece of clothing with the ability to call for help in response to the force measurements.